Honda says it could mass produce FCX Clarity within 10 years

I thought CAB FORWARD designing went out with the Dodge Intrepid. No sense buying a car with a shape that is over 5 years old now. Dodge Intrepids were tough cars to resell; people got tired of the jelly bean shape and wanted something different. Something with a more unique look is what is easier to resell years later, cookie cutter cars are a dime a dozen.

The Fuel Cell idea is compelling and note worthy though.

BMW has already been displaying Hydrogen technology at the Detroit Auto Show for years now, so it will be interesting to see who comes to market first. It will be like air-bag videos of the 1970s. Too expensive of technology right now, then one day you open the newspaper and the new car ads are suddenly advertising Air Bags to win new buyers.

Nobody is going to care what this car looks like! The Prius never would've gotten so popular if people were buying them for their looks! And in my opinion, it's pretty attractive.

I thought I was the only one liked the looks :) every car should be made a hatchback.

All they need is a quarter of the infastructure that petrol has for hydrogen to be successful. But that kind of investment would definitely have to be government aided.

That car already looks 15 years old :-\

About as old as your stupid comments sound.

and it has the sophisticated techology that is yet to be found in any other car manufacture.

I'm really hoping they bring these type of cars to the masses. Honda's home power generation system combined with the FCX would make any tree hugger happy.
http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/home-energy-station.aspx

I would absolutely buy it.

Anyone know how much a gallon of hydrogen retails for?

About the same as gas, shockingly enough. I watched that on Jay Leno's Garage.

10yrs? nice :)

I see a light at the end of the tunnel of our planet's future.

Honda should just replace the U.S accord with this in 15 years.

Remember folks, Hydrogen energy is going to be used to offset Greenhouse gases. Some Hydrogen powered cars, such as the BMW Hydrogen7 only get 4 mpg and 190HP out of a 6.0L V12, that's for hydrogen combustion though. Don't assume Hydrogen is going to be cheaper to run, as it could be very expensive until an efficient storing mode is designed. Hydrogen Fuel-cells though can get 60 MPG easy so those have no problems with the money factor (hopefully)

I can guarantee you that Honda won't replace the Accord with the Clarity. The Accord is basically a world icon. Honda isn't going to take it off the market because one of their cars runs off of hydrogen. If anything, they'll make a hydrogen Accord. But that, of course, would be years and years down the road.

"The Accord is basically a world icon"

No. The Accord is basically an economy sedan.

Not really. If you go to basically any major country, they will know what a Honda Accord is.

I think that fuel cells are a good idea, but too complicated for most people to understand. For example, I've known several people who believe that they can put tap water in the tank and have it run. And most people don't realize that the hydrogen you're supposed to fill the tank with doesn't cost any less than gas does. You just buy less of it so people think it's cheaper.

Years from now, cars with this shape will be like Minivans were a few years ago. Too many look alikes. Just like minivans were soccer mom's cars, these econoboxes will be mass-consumer cars with a Wal Mart price point and disposable.

I still remember people having trouble sellin Intrepids because thay were so widely mass produced, they had very little value years later. People got really tired of the Jelly-Bean Shape after seeing them everywhere.

Sport Wagons are the next big idea. Volvos XC60 is an elegant look that works good for business or a family vacation.

Whenever you drive an econobox to the office, people look at you like you are a miser or something. To cheap to spend a buck.

I’d like to see the Asian car companies do a knockoff of the new 4 door Bentley sedan.

If they can do this, I might have an interest in buying an Asian or Japanese Car.

If they can make a Business-Class Sedan with classic lines so average people could afford one, then they would likely have me as a customer, but It would have to be priced within the range of a Mercury Grand Marquis.

Let’s face it, if you supply your own vehicle for a company and drive hundreds of miles per day, you are simply not going to spend more than mid $20K on a new vehicle. A Bentley is priced out of the ballpark for traveling road, sales work. Gas, Tires, Maintenance, Insurance, it all stacks against your take home pay and a significant loss tour your income year to year as few companies offer company cars to Sales Executives anymore as corporate America tightens its belt.

No one has come close to the look of the new Bentley’s. The very high end market seems to be no-mans land for imitations and copying. Bentley must be paying the mass-car companies off or something.
Lexus is to Jelly-beaned shaped for me. I actually like the first LS400 when it came out in 1989. It looked like a nice sedan with classic lines. Today, Lexus is a family vehicle. I will say Lexus and Infiniti are getting better and more generous with their wood interiors.

The Avalon and Grand Marquis are the only cars that comes close for a budget, business-class sedan, but there is still a huge gap in this segment. And no, the new Lexus Killer Hyudia doesn’t cut the mustard.

The CEO gave a production date of 2018. That is a long time from now. Anyway, keep working hard Honda.

This shape will work in 2018.

They can call it the Retro-Intrepid with its Classic Cab-Forward Design.

this shape didn't look good then, looks even worse today.

In fairness, I do like the grille, but probably because the nose looks like a VW Passat.